Digital Commons Network^™

Expectancy Effects On Mental Fatigue, Ethan Li

Behavioral Neuroscience Honors Papers

This thesis explores mental fatigue as a state arising from sustained cognitive demand and explores the use of the gradual-onset performance task (gradCPT) for mental fatigue research. The study examines whether expectancy effects (placebo or nocebo conditions) influence mental fatigue-related outcomes. Expectancy effects were induced by asking participants to view an inert optical illusion after describing its benefits (placebo) or harms (nocebo) to mental fatigue. Out of 73 participants, results showed significant decreases in performance over time, along with significantly increased subjective fatigue as measured by the VAS-F subscale, supporting gradCPT as an effective fatigue inducer in short periods of …

The Last Human Question: Generative Ai's Existential Threat To Consensus And Law, Joshua Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

The true risk of artificial intelligence (“AI”) is not that the toasters will rise up. It is that AI will be competent to perform human tasks and indifferent to human welfare. The risk is that we will be outcompeted by generative automated processes that create output similar to ours (although never the same, as this Article explains), but which need none of the outputs of the economy for food, shelter, or human flourishing. Further, a more precise and existential description of the threat is that generative AI will disrupt and crowd out humanity’s evolutionary superpower, our ability to generate agreement …

Caught In The Midwife’S Hands: A Black Feminist Exploration Of Reproductive Health And Justice In Massachusetts, Nina Bakum

Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Reframing Latina Incarceration: An Exploration Of Intersectional Identity, Mass Incarceration And Criminalization In The United States, Melia Lorch

Hispanic Studies Honors Papers

This thesis examines the incarceration of Latina women in the United States through an intersectional lens that centers ethnicity, gender, and class, among other factors. While mass incarceration has been widely studied, Latina experiences are often overlooked or reduced to statistics, making their specific pathways into and through the criminal legal system largely invisible. This project argues that Latina incarceration is not simply the result of individual behavior, but is shaped by overlapping systems of structural inequality. Drawing on the interdisciplinary research of an array of scholars, recent government data and report, as well as observations from York Correctional Institution …

A Cold War Story: The Emigration Of Soviet Jews 1967-1980, William Bernstein

History Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Reflections Of A Queer Latvia: How The Past Has Shaped Contemporary Activism, Gray Ruffer

Slavic Studies Honors Papers

This thesis aims to create a transhistorical map of queer Riga through the tolerance, treatment, and activist moments in Latvia from the early twentieth century to 2025, with special focus on the divided legal and social attitudes toward LGBT identities in different pockets of Riga. By tracing the role the Russo-Soviet occupations on Latvian soil from 1914-1991 had on the structure of governmental organizations, the treatment of the Latvian language and culture, and the social atmosphere in the capital of Riga, this thesis establishes a Latvian national historical memory through memory narratives that focus themselves in authentic Latvian traditionality, as …

Queer Experiences Of Double Disadvantage: The Moderating Effects Of Rejection On The Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Attachment Style, Isabella Kinney

Psychology Honors Papers

This thesis examines how intersecting forms of disadvantage – particularly experiencing identity-based rejection and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) – can negatively impact a queer-identifying individual. Previous research highlights that both ACEs and rejection are linked to poor mental health and insecure attachment patterns within LGBTQ+ populations. This study aimed to determine whether rejection serves as a moderator for the relationship between ACEs and attachment. Data was collected through an anonymous online survey of 81 participants recruited from Connecticut College and Connecticut’s LGBTQ+ Justice and Opportunity Network, and included measuring ACEs, rejection experience, and attachment patterns. Using a regression and moderation …

The English You Speak Matters: Immigrants, Phonological Roots, And Psychological Perspectives On Accent Discrimination, Sophia Hauschildt

Psychology Honors Papers

Accent serves as a highly salient social cue that influences how speakers are perceived, particularly in multicultural contexts where linguistic diversity is increasing. The present study examined how English accent affects evaluations of speaker warmth and competence, and how individual differences in cultural intelligence and colour-blind racial attitudes shape these perceptions. Using a between-subjects experimental design, participants (N = 225) were randomly assigned to listen to a standardised speech passage presented in one of five accents: General American English (GAE; control), Spanish-accented English, Chinese-accented English, Hindi-accented English, or Filipino-accented English. Participants then completed measures of speaker evaluation based on …

Frequency Stabilization Of An Affordable Adjustable Repetition Rate Dual Frequency Comb Spectrometer, Michael Moran

Physics, Astronomy and Geophysics Honors Papers

Two affordably home-built optical frequency combs are stabilized for use in molecular spectroscopy. Each comb is paired with a multi-tiered stabilization scheme that will enable the dual-comb spectrometer to perform precision measurements. The two degrees of freedom for an optical frequency comb, the repetition rate frequency and offset frequency, are accounted for in this stabilization scheme. The repetition rate is directly stabilized through control of the laser enclosure temperature and the fiber laser cavity length. The offset frequency is controlled indirectly via the stabilization of an optical beat note, the heterodyned signal resulting from a narrow linewidth laser and the …

Use Of Ai In Expert Testimony: Understanding The Attorney Perspective, Emma S. Puntin

Psychology Honors Papers

Artificial Intelligence is becoming increasingly incorporated into different aspects of society, including our legal system. AI has potential to enter into legal proceedings through the introduction of its evidence in case and expert witness testimony. Expert witnesses are called to offer knowledge on matters relevant to a case and can vary in specialization. This study aimed to explore how attorneys view experts who use AI and how they would approach this in a courtroom setting. Structured interviews were conducted with ten attorneys from various jurisdictions. During these interviews, attorneys were asked what they have encountered during their work in the …

Embodied Aging: Older Adults’ Gendered Participation In Physical And Recreational Activity In Assisted Living, Gavin Anderson

Self-Designed Majors Honors Papers

This study examines how older adults interpret their experiences with physical and recreational activity in assisted living, and how these interpretations influence how they engage in their everyday social and physical contexts. In the fall of 2025, eleven older adults—nine women and two men—living in an assisted living facility in a coastal city in Southeastern Connecticut participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews. The facility provides both short-term post-acute care and long-term residential care, offering structured opportunities for physical and recreational engagement.

Past research demonstrates that participation in physical and recreational activity provides substantial benefits for older adults; yet, the lived experience …

The Joy Of Recognition Vs. The Violence Of Erasure: Gender Queer And Fun Home As Literary Targets And Queer Bibliographies, Alicia Luguri

Theses & ETDs

In this thesis I examine controversies surrounding Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer, while exploring select events of book censorship, theft, and destruction, and how these activities have been employed to specifically target queer, trans, Jewish, and other marginalized communities. I trace the intertwined histories of pornography and the comics medium, and the ways in which this connection has shaped and influenced public opinion, legislation, and the genesis and implementation of the restrictive 1954 Comics Code. Additionally, I argue that as a part of Bechdel’s and Kobabe’s reaction to the heteronormative, homophobic and transphobic threats and pressures …

An Amalgamation Of Genre: Creating A Multi-Style First Ep As A Musical Artist, Emily Mcgoogan

Theses & ETDs

As someone with the desire to continue creating music for most of my life whether as a full-time career or just as a hobby to fulfill leisure time with, choosing where to devote energy to can be quite difficult. The objective of this EP was to obtain as much exposure to the musical genres, styles, and programs that interest me in order to attempt to figure out how I work as a musical artist. I aimed for six different genres to explore: Pop, Experimental Pop, Alternative, Tech House, Blues, and Surf Rock. The process consisted of stages where I would …

Everything’S Going To Be Ok Implementing A Tiny Virtual Machine, Assembler, And Compiler, Gregory O'Neal

Theses & ETDs

This thesis presents the design and implementation of ok, a stack-based virtual machine intended for educational use that prioritizes ease of implementation and minimal resource usage. The system is formally specified and accompanied by a reference implementation written in C. This thesis also introduces MK2, an assembly-like language targeting this virtual machine, as well as a high-level compiled programming language called nude. Together, these components form a usable programming stack that demonstrates how a beginner-friendly and resource-conscious virtual machine and toolchain can support higher-level software development while remaining accessible for instructional use.

A Multidisciplinary Dialogue On Students Of Color And First-Generation Students In United States Higher Education: Challenges, Current Representations, A Personal Story, And The Road Ahead, Christian Torres

Theses & ETDs

Despite a considerable amount of research, racial diversity in higher education in the United States remains a complicated social issue. Intersecting variables like being a first-generation student or a female student, in addition to the variable of being a student of color, complicate the issue further, calling for more research into the variable of race and ethnicity and how it may impact a student’s potential chances at success at the higher education level. In this thesis, a personal story of a first-generation student of color is provided to humanize the issue of diversity in higher education. Secondary data were then …

Prodigiosin Production By Marine Isolate 3 And Molecular Modeling And Simulation Of A Cutibacterium Acnes Oxidative Stress Response Sigma Factor-Anti Sigma Factor Pair, Mar Werner Hernandez

Theses & ETDs

Prodigiosin, a natural product of several marine bacteria, has become a popular molecule for study, given its many pharmaceutical effects. However, most studies on optimizing its yield through biosynthesis have focused on Serratia marcescens, leaving a gap in knowledge for other prodigiosin-producing bacteria. Therefore, a preliminary study was done to determine the effects of oxygen availability and MgCl2 concentration on Zooshikella Marine Isolate 3 prodigiosin production. Additionally, computational work was done to construct three-dimensional structures of PPA2382 and PPA1266, a putative oxidative stress response σ factor-anti σ pair encoded by Cutibacterium acnes. The models were then characterized via classical molecular …

Deterrence Without Peace: Nuclear Weapons And The Rising Threshold Of Warfare, Catie Clarke

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

Nuclear weapons fundamentally changed the international political landscape, leading to the emergence of deterrence theory and the notion of the Long Peace. This paper challenges these claims, arguing that nuclear weapons facilitated a more violent and volatile international system rather than stability. Drawing on constructivist theory, this paper develops the Threshold of Violence framework – a normative model which asserts that nuclear weapons elevated the perceived upper limit of tolerable violence in international politics. This raised threshold generated three trends in the nuclear era: increased frequency of proxy wars, escalating levels of benefactor involvement, and greater severity of conflicts fought …

Unm Pathology, Pathfinder Winter 2026, Unm Department Of Pathology

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Information And Communication Behaviors Of Marcus Garvey And The Universal Negro Improvement Association (Unia), Janet Douglas-Pryce

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Marcus Garvey, social activist and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in the early twentieth century, has been widely studied for his Pan-African approach to the social upliftment of Black communities during a period marked by segregation and systemic injustice. His messages of empowerment attracted global attention and supported the growth of a movement that reached more than one million members worldwide. While Garvey and the UNIA have been examined from historical, political, and cultural perspectives, they have not been systematically studied through the lens of information and communication behavior. This study examines the information and communication behaviors …

Entry Nr. 134 Isaac Anderson, Aaron Spencer Fogleman, Robert Hanserd

500 African Voices

No abstract provided.

Community Science For Enigmatic Ecosystems: Using Ebird To Assess Avian Biodiversity On Glaciers And Snowfields, William E. Brooks, Jordan Boersma, Neil Paprocki, Peter Wimberger, Scott Hotaling

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Mountain glaciers and snowfields are rapidly receding because of climate warming. Species living in these habitats remain poorly studied, likely because of the remoteness and ruggedness of their terrain. We leveraged community science data from eBird—an online database of bird observations from around the world—to characterize bird use of mountain glaciers and snowfields. We estimated total bird biodiversity and preference for glaciers and snowfields over nearby, ice-adjacent habitats. We used field notes from eBird users and breeding codes to extend our data set to include insight into habitat usage and behavior. Finally, we compared our community-science approach to previous studies …

Do Algorithms Dream Of Electric Muses? Teaching Creative Writing In The Age Of Generative Ai, Anna Leahy

English Faculty Articles and Research

In Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? androids are given a psychological test to confirm they are not human before killing them. The story’s end suggests that humans will treat a seemingly harmless android as authentically as a human even when humans are aware the android is not human. Students use tools like ChatGPT, which function as autocomplete on steroids, to produce text using probabilistic relationships among words, and instructors can’t always tell the difference between average student writing and Gen AI text. In creative writing classes, instructors might use thinking for oneself as a central …

Data Culture's Influence On Instructional Change And Continuous School Improvement, Sara Guth

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The use of data for decision making and taking an evidence-based approach to instruction has been the gold standard for schools and their continuous improvement efforts for many years in elementary education. The system of military-connected schools is no different. This unique system has taken steps to support the development of a data culture in its schools to include providing clear guidance in its Blueprint for Continuous Improvement, designating weekly release time for students so that educators may engage in Focused Collaboration time, and designing structures and resources to support teams with this practice such as the Focused Collaboration …

Insights Into Sustainability: Exploring Undergraduates' Understanding Of Food Energy Water Nexus Connections To Climate Change, Amanda D. Manzanares, Lydia R. Horne, Emily A. Royse, Caterina Azzarello, Meghann E. Jarchow, Daniel L. Druckenbrod, Nicholas L. Babin, Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, Shirley Vincent, Steven W. Anderson, Chelsie Romulo

SPS Student Publications

Purpose

Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability programs integrate a diverse curriculum that exposes students to the interconnectedness of environmental systems, such as climate change and the Food-Energy-Water Nexus and fosters a holistic understanding of sustainability. However, students’ prior knowledge, alternative conceptions and knowledge gaps can impact student learning. Therefore, the purpose of this study aims to: 1) uncover how students’ knowledge about the relationships between food, energy and water systems relate to their understanding about climate change and 2) reveal what concepts students focus on and potential gaps and/or alternative conceptions in their knowledge. Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected data from 115 …

Town Of Gilsum, New Hampshire Annual Reports For The Year Ending December 31, 2025, Gilsum Town Representatives

Gilsum, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire.

A Rosary Dipped In Blood, Collin Taylor

Athena: Undergraduate Research and Literary Journal

A short story about a young adult male named Daniel who navigates the isolation he feels in a rural conservative small town. He seeks escape and liberation through books and education, as well as making his voice known regardless of the consequences.

Tet2 Deficiency Promotes Igg1+ B-Cell Expansion And Differentiation Blockade Through Deregulation Of The Nfkbia-C-Rel Axis, Hussein Ghamlouch, Michaël Degaud, Veronique Della-Valle, Alexandre Eeckhoutte, Marine Armand, Amina Joudat, Camille Decaudin, Pilar M Dominguez, Wojciech Rosikiewicz, Patrycja Pawlikowska, Walaa Darwiche, Enguerran Mouly, Sheng Li, Ari M Melnick, Said Aoufouchi, Olivier A Bernard

Faculty Research 2026

The germinal center (GC) reaction is essential for orchestrating humoral immunity by producing plasma cells (PCs) and memory B cells (MBCs). TET2, an α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase, plays a critical role in B-cell exit from the GC and in plasma cell differentiation. Moreover, TET2 functions as a tumor suppressor in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), with mutations frequently observed in the ST2 DLBCL subgroup, which is marked by elevated NF-κB and PI3K signaling and predominant expression of IgG B-cell receptors (BCRs). We used a combination of in vivo mouse models and in vitro differentiation systems to investigate the effects of Tet2 deficiency …

Adaptation In The Tallgrass Prairie: The Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrel, Katherine Sikorski

OER Materials

The goal of this lesson was to design an immersive, place-based learning inquiry for students to observe and learn about animal adaptations influenced by the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. By exploring the MSUM Regional Science Center, students engage with the natural phenomenon of camouflage, specifically analyzing how the physical traits of the Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel and the Prairie Pocket Gopher are influenced by their environment. Through a combination of hands-on "phenomenon walks" and argumentative journaling, this lesson empowers students to construct evidence-based arguments regarding how survival is tied to habitat-specific traits.

Shooting Star Flower: Place-Based Learning Plan For The Msum Regional Science Center, Ava Bauch

OER Materials

The lesson plan engages fourth-grade students in a hands-on field experience at the MSUM Regional Science Center located in Moorhead, Minnesota focusing on the Shooting Star flower with the scientific name Dodecatheon meadia. Aligned with Minnesota Science Standard 4L.4.1.1.1, the lesson emphasizes how environmental conditions influence the traits and survival of living organisms. Students begin by observing an image of the flower and generating questions and predictions to spark curiosity. Then explore the natural environment to locate the plant and record observations about its surroundings, structure, and survival strategies. Through guided discussion, students learn how the Shooting Star adapts to …

Butterflies: Place-Based Learning Plan For The Msum Regional Science Center, Cacee Danielson

OER Materials

This submission presents a 4th grade science inquiry lesson that is focused on the life cycle of a butterfly. The lesson is designed to challenge students to use hands-on learning, field-based investigation, in which they get to observe, sketch, and record observations like physical characteristics, and observations about their habitat.  Students will observe how butterflies interact with plants and their surroundings. Throughout the lesson, students are expected to make observations and collect evidence of things that they notice. These activities give students a challenge to interpret, collect and analyze data, draw and write, and its giving them more of an …